Law Commons^™

Reviving The Rhetoric Of The Public Interest: Choir Directors, Copy Machines, And New Arrangements Of Public Domain Music, Paul J. Heald

Scholarly Works

The decision to photocopy or not to photocopy has significant consequences for the music consumer's pocketbook. Photocopies cost around three cents per page, while an original printed version of a choral work costs about thirty cents per page. The expense of buying rather than copying public domain sheet music is directly absorbed by the taxpayers who fund music education in public schools, the church congregations who must raise money for the church music budget, and the patrons of the fine arts who finance music ensembles with their admission fees or donations.

To recognize the high cost of sheet music is …

Copyright And Free Speech Rights, L. Ray Patterson, Stanley F. Birch, Jr.

Scholarly Works

By letter of 1 March 1993, the Copyright Compliance Office of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) informed a copyshop that it had “without prior permission, made multiple copies of excerpts of copyrighted works for distribution to students in course anthologies.” Stating that this copying was an infringement of copyright, the letter requested the copyshop to sign an enclosed agreement stating it would not commit such acts again and to pay a penalty of “$2,500 to help defray the costs of the AAP's copyright enforcement program in this matter and to impress on your business the need to operate in …

Copyright Law And Electronic Access To Information, Jessica D. Litman

Articles

At the same time as we have been discovering the Internet’s enormous potential to enhance access to information and revolutionize the ways libraries do business, the Internet’s high profile in popular media has made it the focus of a wide spectrum of fears about the future. This paper focuses on pending proposals to amend copyright law to enhance the control copyright owners wield over the appearance of their works on digital networks. These proposals would stifle libraries’ use of the Internet. Libraries and their supporters must participate in the copyright debate, and think creatively about new models for copyright. The …

The New Law On Infringement Of Registered Trade Marks In The United Kingdom: Early Developments, David Llewelyn

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this article the author considers the infringement provisions of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (UK) and a number of recent decisions in which they have been considered.

Intellectual Property Issues In Genomics, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

Controversy over intellectual property rights in the results of large-scale cDNA sequencing raises intriguing questions about the roles of the public and private sectors in genomics research, and about who stands to benefit (and who stands to lose) from the private appropriation of genomic information. While the US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected patent applications on cDNA fragments of unknown function from the National Institutes of Health, private firms have pursued three distinct strategies for exploiting unpatented cDNA sequence information: exclusive licensing, non-exclusive licensing and dedication to the public domain.

Reverse Engineering Of Computer Software And U.S. Antitrust Law, Robert H. Lande, Sturgis M. Sobin

All Faculty Scholarship

This article explores when efforts by firms to restrict reverse engineering of their software, and corresponding agreements by other firms not to reverse engineer this software, could raise significant antitrust issues.

This article provides an overview of how the laws prohibiting certain acts of monopolization, attempted monopolization, refusals to deal, and tying might apply to restrictions and agreements concerning the reverse engineering of computer software. As a necessary predicate to this analysis, the article first briefly describes the contours of intellectual property protection for software, including the fair use and the copyright misuse doctrines.

The Restatement's Rejection Of The Misappropriation Tort, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

Some legal theories, like the proverbial vampire, refuse to die. The common law tort of misappropriation is one such legal theory, and the recent Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition (Restatement) may finally lead to the demise of this outdated cause of action. Misappropriation began advisedly enough as a means of protecting certain intellectual property rights from unjust usurpation, often by direct competitors employing improper means. Arising before comprehensive copyright, patent, and trademark laws were fully developed, the tort may have played an important role in protecting intangible proprietary interests.The tort's high water mark was the 1918 Supreme Court decision in …

Caught In The Net Of Copyright, Peter Jaszi

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

As an overture to this Comment, I'd like to begin with one of my favorite passages from the recent National Information Infrastructure (NII)Task Force Working Group Report on Intellectual Property and the NII-the so-called White Paper.' The passage is not one of the deceptively bland legislative proposals-nor one of the strategic half-truths in the purported summary of current copyright law. Rather, it is a passage from the section on copyright awareness, and it is an excellent example of a good idea gone wrong. The good idea is that our elementary and secondary schools could take a role in preparing students …

The Impact Of Recent Litigation On Interlibrary Loan And Document Delivery, James S. Heller

Faculty Publications

Professor Heller discusses how two recent federal copyright law decisions, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music in the United States Supreme Court and American Geophysical Union v. Texaco in the Second Circuit, may affect the interlibrary loan and document delivery services provided by libraries.

Re-Tailoring Jury Trial Rights, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

The debate over improving the civil justice system has gone through many permutations over the years. Discovery, punitive damages and alternative dispute resolution are but a few of the paths that have been pursued. A case argued to the U.S. Supreme Court in January addresses the question from yet another-and potentially a more fundamental direction: the reach of the Seventh Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial in civil cases in federal court.

The Single Publication Rule: One Action Not One Law, Debra R. Cohen

Journal Articles

Recovery in one action under one state's law for violation of the right of publicity-the right to control the commercial use of one's identity-arising out of multistate publication2 seems to be the trend of the nineties. When Samsung ran a nationwide print advertisement for VCRs depicting a robot dressed to resemble her, Vanna White sued for violation of her right of publicity.3 Under California law she recovered $403,000. 4 When a SalsaRio Doritos radio commercial imitating Tom Waits's distinctive raspy and gravelly voice aired nationwide, he sued Frito Lay for violation of his right of publicity.5 Under California law he …

An Analysis Of The Nature And Impact Of Legal Complexities Facing United States Corporations Considering Investment Into The New South Africa, Philip R. Mcdougall

LLM Theses and Essays

Due to sanctions imposed against South Africa’s Apartheid government, the South African economy suffered as little international investment was made in the country. With these sanctions lifted following the democratic elections of 1994, South Africa is now an alluring country for international investment. Despite this attractiveness, U.S. corporations face many legal concerns before entering the South African economy. An analysis of these issues is made in the context of American and South African law with solutions proposed in an effort to avoid deterring foreign investment. These concerns include political and non-economic risks that often hinder investment in the African continent, …

The Effect Of Bankruptcy On Executory Contracts In General And On Licensing Agreements Of Intellectual Property In Particular, Alexandra Baumgartner

LLM Theses and Essays

11 U.S.C. § 365(a) provides that a bankruptcy trustee, subject to the court’s approval, may assume or reject any executory contract. What section § 365 does not provide is a clear definition for the term “executory contract.” This thesis covers the different definitions of executory contracts proposed by courts and scholars and common grounds for assumption and rejection by the trustee. The author in particular analyzes how § 365 interacts with licensing agreements. If a licensor files for bankruptcy and the license agreement is rejected, the licensee’s rights to use the licensed intellectual property are in jeopardy. This situation is …

The Continental Moral Rights Doctrine And Its Applicability In The United States Copyright System, Oswaldo Jose Quintana

LLM Theses and Essays

In the last half of the twentieth century, international copyright protection has become of much greater concern as the copyright industry has become supranational. Treaties enacted in the last ten years such as the Berne Convention Implementation Act, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, provide the highest copyright protection available at the international level. Global piracy has declined in the last several years because of these provisions. However, the adherence by the United States to these treaties has caused controversy; some maintain that it represents a major overhaul of federal law …

Global Technological Integration, Intellectual Property Rights, And Competition Law: Some Introductory Comments, David J. Gerber

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Implications Of The New Regime For Global Competition Policy: Intellectual Property Rights, Economic Power, And Global Technological Integration, David J. Gerber

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Free Trade In The Americas: Nafta Case Studies, Claudio Grossman

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Trademark Parody: Lessons From The Copyright Decision In Campbell V. Acuff-Rose Music, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

Parodies have long provided many of us with amusement, entertainment,and sometimes even information. An effective parody can convey one or more messages with powerful effect. The message may be a political statement, social commentary, commercial speech, a bawdy joke, ridicule of a brand name, criticism of commercialism, or just plain humor for its own sake. Often someone's ox is being gored, or someone feels that a property right has been infringed. The party so injured often contemplates a lawsuit, and an array of legal theories are available to further that impulse. Perhaps copyright infringement is the claim, if some protectable …

1995 Patent Law Decisions Of The United States Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit, Lawrence M. Sung

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Norms And Property In The Middle Kingdom, Glenn R. Butterton

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Copyright, Robert G. Bone, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

Copyright law protects works of creative expression. At its relatively uncontroversial core lie songs, plays, novels, paintings, and other works of aesthetic value. But copyright is not confined solely to aesthetic subject matter; in many countries, it extends to works of fact, such as biographies, maps, and telephone directories, and to works with practical value. For example, one of the most controversial issues in copyright law today is whether and how much copyright should protect computer programs.

Of Seeds And Shamans: The Appropriation Of The Scientific And Technical Knowledge Of Indigenous And Local Communities, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Ancient Doctrine Of Trespass To Web Sites, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Wine Bursting From Old Bottles: Collaborative Internet Art, Joint Works, And Entrepreneurship, Margaret Chon

Faculty Articles

Some intellectual property colleagues recently urged Professor Chon to post this article on SSRN. She wrote it circa mid-90’s when information still wanted to be free and the predominant technology was still file transfer protocol. It seems this piece has stood the test of time because it was one of the first legal academic pieces to address the copyright implications of Internet works. Today in 2010, we are still grappling with the collaborative, dynamic and entrepreneurial characteristics of digital networked content. However, now it is created and distributed through different intermediaries such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

Trouble In Transamerica: Deferred Compensation, Contingent Debt, And Overstated Basis, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

For many years, owners of motion pictures and television films have optimized the tax benefits of depreciation deductions by employing a broad concept of basis. In addition to their cash investment, these taxpayers have increased their basis to reflect both fixed and contingent liabilities incurred in creating or acquiring these assets. Some of these liabilities represent royalties for the use of intellectual property such as music and literary works incorporated in the film. Others constitute deferred compensation for the services performed by producers, directors, actors, musicians, and others during the production process. The fixed liabilities do not depend on the …

From Free Riders To Fair Followers: Global Competition Under The Trips Agreement, Jerome H. Reichman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Trade Secrets And Roman Law: The Myth Exploded, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

In 1929 A. Arthur Schiller published a celebrated article, Trade Secrets and the Roman Law; the Actio Servi Corrupti. His main conclusions are that the Roman owner of a mark or firm name was legally protected against unfair usage by a competitor through the actio servi corrupti, “action for making a slave worse,” which the Roman jurists used to grant commercial relief under the guise of private law actions. “If, as the writer believes [writes Schiller], various private causes of action were available in satisfying commercial needs, the state was acting in exactly the same fashion as it …

Combating Impunity: Some Thoughts On The Way Forward, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Property (And Copyright) In Cyberspace, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Research And Private Development: Patents And Technology Transfer In Government-Sponsored Research, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

This article revisits the logical and empirical basis for current government patent policy in order to shed light on the competing interests at stake and to begin to assess how the system is operating in practice. Such an inquiry is justified in part by the significance of federally-sponsored research and development to the overall U.S. research effort. Although the share of national expenditures for research and development borne by the federal government has declined since 1980, federal funding in 1995 still accounted for approximately thirty-six percent of total national outlays for research and development' and nearly fifty-eight percent of outlays …